We made the bed, now we’ll lie in it.

UPDATE: We’re going to be recreating this bed with full tutorials, measurements and cost breakdowns, so if you want more step-by-step tutorials, follow along right here.

This is a story about a project spiraling out of control. All I really wanted was a different look for our bed.

We have a simple rectangular upholstered headboard that I picked up a few years ago from a big-box store somewhere, and I decided I’d just pick up some fabric, throw it over that headboard and call it a day.

Then I accidentally read too many DIY blogs, and decided that if I’m doing this project, we might as well make the headboard a more exciting shape than that stodgy rectangle, and upholster our own.

At this point, I was already out of my league.

But then, I saw this blog where a guy actually upholstered his entire bed himself. Um, you can do that?! I’m in. We need that.

The inspiration? This beauty from Jonathan Adler, priced at $2,500:

So I called my handy contractor (who was sitting next to me on the couch) and put in a request. He cut this for me out of plywood using a router which I very wisely bought him for Christmas a couple years ago.

(You know those horrible people who buy you gifts secretly hoping to personally benefit? That was me! My evil plan was working!)

After he cut it, we noticed this fun coincidence. That date printed on the back? That’s our wedding anniversary. This is meant to be!

He beefed up the sides by adding some MDF. This would give us the depth we needed to screw the headboard to the bed frame, and I think a chunkier headboard looks better anyway.
Then he cut away the extra using some kinda jig or wizardry or something.
This is a good time to interject and say that if you want to attempt this yourself, this is a really, really hard shape to upholster. A little rectangle would entice much less self-hatred than this shape. I promise.
This project would also be easier with a fabric which doesn’t show every single imperfection. Bad call, Kelly. (But it was on clearance!)

We picked up six yards of very difficult fabric, six yards of upholstery lining fabric (a MUST-HAVE), four million staples and an electric staple gun, and some thin batting.

The thin batting was a bad idea too. We needed seven layers to get to a comfortable cushiness. I’d recommend about 3 layers of the 8-ounce stuff in the future.

Then we laid the upholstery lining fabric on the ground, plus a million layers of batting, then the headboard, and started stapling.
It was not smooth sailing, my friends. Those inside corners next to the half circle on top? IMPOSSIBLE. At this point, I thought we should throw in the towel, cut off that top circle and start over. Andy was more insane confident, so we kept going.

I should also say that this is absolutely not a one-person job. You need a buddy. A good buddy, who is required by law and marriage to remain your buddy when this project is over.

Upholstering a headboard is a lot like taking a long road trip – if your relationship can survive this, you’re set.

After a hours of tugging and stapling, we arrived at this:
Not good.

But we kept at it through my whining about what I had gotten myself into, until we were happy with how the upholstery lining fabric was laying. Then we cut away the extra from the back.

Next, we upholstered with the real fabric.

Starting with the upholstery lining was clutch. It made upholstering with the real fabric sooo much easier, and having a little practice under our belts didn’t hurt.

Turns out there are three secrets to upholstering around the curves.

The first is tug and staple as tightly as you can on one side, then do the same to the other, then return to the first side, remove your staples and start over. It’s the only way we could get it all tight enough.

The second secret is to cut little v-shapes into the fabric like this:
And the third tip is: just don’t do a headboard with curves. Seriously. You don’t need this stress in your life.

When we had the headboard all upholstered, I got another harebrained idea that we needed nailhead trim. They sell this stuff that comes in strips, so you only have to nail in every fifth nail. GLORIOUS!

Still, it was not was not easy keeping the nailhead lined up with that outside edge, but I just knew this baby needed some bling.
Meanwhile, Andy was busy building the bed frame. He created a simple box out of 9-inch wide MDF strips.

(Disclaimer: we had just painted when I took this picture, so tools and furniture were everywhere. Plus a tornado had just blown through. This is not what our bedroom normally looks like.)
We added a rail across the center, and 1×4 boards across the sides to hold the mattress, so the frame looked like this:

And we started upholstering the sides:

At this point, if your entire bedroom floor doesn’t look like this, you’re not doing it right:

Time for the legs! You can buy them pre-made at Lowes or Home Depot, orrrr, you can have your husband make your own tapered legs out of wood and manliness, then stain it yourself. I did the latter.

He attached them to the inside corners of the bed frame using some kind of carpentry magic. (Or, just screwed them in.)

He added some supports in the middle of the frame to supplement the legs:
Then, added three boards to the end of the frame so we could attach the headboard:

Screwed the headboard into those boards:

Then, we stepped back to admire:
Added a mattress and some bedding, and ta-da!

Another disclaimer: this room is not decorated yet, at all. It needs everything: window treatments, lamps, art, everything. I haven’t even decided how I’m going to make the bed yet. Much fun lies ahead.)

Also, I realize it is a giant faux-pas to use five hundred pillows on your bed, but I frickin love it. I don’t even care.

Final, most important tip: if someone wakes up from his nap while you’re taking pictures, you should probably let him get in front of the camera.
The end! Can’t wait to get this room decorated!

UPDATE: We’re going to be recreating this bed with full tutorials, measurements and cost breakdowns, so if you want more step-by-step tutorials, follow along here.

This is AMAAAZING! Do you read Young House Love's blog? They would love this post I bet. They do this thing called Reader Redesign where people send in stuff they do and then YHL posts it for all the world to see and ooh and ahh over. You should send this to them. Super impressive!

Wow, you guys! This link came up in my stats and I had to come over and see– you did a KILLER job! Hope my little tutorial helped, but you took it like a zillion steps further… so impressive. And yeah, YHL would totally love this!

I linked over from Centsational Girl. This is one amazing project. The finished project looks incredibly professional. I am so impressed. I'm so glad you added the nailhead trim. I know it probably was a stressful project, but the end result is gorgeous. I am going to become a follower. I'd love if you get a chance to come check out my blog and follow me back. Thanks. http://www.diybydesign.blogspot.com

Kelly, you and Andy are ninjas! First: upholstered bed (with curves!) next: television marriage counselors (think Dr. Phil!). Seriously, if you guys completed this project with leftover love to spare, you could conquer the world! Great job. It looks like a million bucks!Sincerely,A fellow bed pillow hoarder.

So amazing! I have a platform bed with hard wood corners that I always end up running shin-first into and a fabric base would prevent a zillion and one bruises and tears. omg… I love this project! Thanks girl! <3

standing up in the middle of my family room jumping with happiness for ya'll and applauding. sure hope my neighbors arent looking out their window- oh heck, I dont care if they are.. Ya'll did a fabulous job and you deserve every flattering word of praise you get and then a million more.. it looks fabulous~!!!Sonny

Hopping over from CG to admire your handy work!! LOVE!! I am putting this on my already very long To Do list for 2011. I just did a bed frame with a curve and it turned out awful! Now that I know your trick I am willing to give it another go.

DIY-ing in Portugal and linked over from Centsational Girl… and grinned the whole way through the post! As newlyweds, we're discovering that your partner guaranteed to stay post-DIY by marital law is a good person to have!

Laughing so hard I need a 'Depends'…sounds like my luck. The final product is beautiful AND the headboard shape is just what I have been dreaming about. Though, you scared me. Perhaps I should get you and your hubby to make me one…OR maybe the designer one is more affordable. hehe Thanks to my fave Centsational Girl for sending me over to check out your project!

I think it's really beautiful but the first thing that came to mind after I saw how much work you put into it was: I hoped they sprayed it with a million coats of scotch guard! There is a bed in my house that doesn't have a headboard at all and I notice the wall gets a little discolored in the area where a headboard would be . .

Hi I saw you on Censational Girl and had to come over and say great job. Love your sense of humour, I too am guilty of buying tools for a certain person to do certain jobs that everyone else makes look so easy! Love it and good luck with the rest of the room decorating. It takes a while to piece it all together, my master bedroom is still unfinished 1 yr on. But so long as you have a comfy bed thats all that matters

6. Bryana – OOOH. THIS is a great tip! We didn't scotchguard it, but I will be doing that right away. Thank you!

7. Kimberly @ The Sterling Cherub – ROFL. It's that pesky long arm of the law that stops most of our funnest endeavors.

8. Heather – It is technically a "jacketing" fabric, so I think it's meant for clothing. It feels kinda like a windbreaker jacket, if that makes sense. It looked pretty shimmery and incredibly wrinkly to start with.

THANK YOU to everyone for your comments! Can't wait to dig in to all these new blogs!

Omg … ok… end of story. Must make myself a bed. STAT! I have been admiring all these new beds people are making online and … well. Your {hysterical} post was the straw that broke the camels back. Bed just got bumped up to #1 on my to-do list.

That is how our ENTIRE house looks right now! Trying to pack so we can (hopefully) move in a couple of months! Wowzers. We have to check under all of the debris to make sure we still have two live children in this place.

Beautiful!! You did such a great job! Bravo, bravo! And I think the pillows look great, though I can kinda sympathize with Andy's "pillow-throwing" fun as my hubby is not an extreme fan of lots of pillows like I have.

Saw this on CG and had to hop over! I've seen people DIY headboards before, but never an ENTIRE BED! Seriously awesome! I loved reading all about the adventure and then it was so cute to see the little baby at the end!!! I always say, "thank God for naptime"

came over from CG. LOVE the headboard! I've been planning to make my own for way too long and you've inspired me NOT to do curves when I finally get around to it Also, totally hear ya on the 500 pillows (even if they're rarely actually on my bed and not on the floor)

so so SO glad I hopped over from Centsational Girl! This is amazing! Bravo to you for having the guts and gusto to just get it done and what a blessing to have a hubby who will just jump on the band wagon and help. Does that come in a pill form you think? Hmmm. Either way – beautiful work and can't wait to see the rest of the transformation! I am def following you now to see how it all turns out!

Actually, Shirin is right–using foam first then batting gives you more ooomph with less work. Plus, the batting won't go flat eventually. It's also easier to upholster if you start at the top center and work toward each side. Get it all stretched side to side, the go to the top. Work outward from the center and change sides often. That way, there is no (or less) unstapling. Aaaah, you have more energy than I right now!

Love the headboard and love how honest you were with the difficulty of making it! Glad you guys are still married because my husband and I will be attempting this very same project soon! Your son is precious!

Foam and nailheads go together just fine. There are a few tricks though. First, remember the thicker the foam the more the effort required. I use 2″ foam and nail heads almost exclusively. While not easy, it is doable and great looking. You can do it a few ways: compress the foam around the “trim line” for the nails by stapling the foam to your backer board prior to laying down dacron (batting). Essentially, you are making an ant trail with staples where your nailheads will be. This will give you a channel to lay the nails. Not every staple will ‘catch’ the foam so it will take a bit of work, time and repitition. It is easier if you compress the foam with one hand and staple with the other. You can also cut the foam shorter than you would normally, to the measurements of where the nails will be, then adhere more foam past the trim line to the end of the board. Essentially cutting out a strip of foam where the nails will be, but before you are adhering it to the backer board. Keep in mind foam is expensive. It is made just like other synthetic materials, with crude oil, so foam prices reflect current oil prices. Hope I didn’t confuse anyone, have fun!

I absolutely LOVE your bed, and a big high five for hanging in there, even when you wanted to quit! I have zero patience, so I'm assuming I should start with a plain retangle when I do attempt to make/build my own headboard. Great job

You are AMAZING! I attempted this shape months ago and got so angry when my fabric wouldn't lay right that I threw my staple gun across the garage and ended up with a straight headboard anyway. You have my undying respect for perservering! Bravo!

good for you! As I giggled my way through this post, I became inspired that my handy manny of a husband needs to build me a bed! ohhh…THANK you for trying this shaped headboard first and telling me not to, that is something that I would have done, and *itched the rest of the way through it. I think i'll go square, and with button details….but anyways, great job! love it, off to snoop around your blogCheersKarinaProject K

Wow!! I'm so loving this bed!! You two did a terrific job! I was linked over from centsationalgirl.

My big questions are… skills aside, how long did this take you two? and, how much did this cost? I'm looking for a glorious cost effective approach to making my own bed. I would LOVE to recreate something like this. amazing.

WOW – phenomenal! We did a good old rectangular headboard (of which the first choice of fabric didn't work so we re-did it), and I'm happy I didn't have those curves for my type-a-personality to deal with. You guys handled it very well though! I'm excited to read more on your blog.

Hmmm, nailheads into the foam. Gee, I would have to think about that. The way I learned upholstery was to take a class at a junior college. Actually, I took for several semesters.

People/students brought in a piece of furniture to upholster and learned as they upholstered. The class is cheaper than paying someone to do the job.

Your headboard would still leave you time during a semester to upholster something else. Plus, you take a skill with you. Oh, at the college they furnish ALL tools and thread, glue, staples, etc. You get to feel what is right to you.

We were required to buy only a tack puller that worked on staples and nails. The school did furnish the tack puller until people stole them all.Your headboard looks exceptionally nice.

Hey guys!! My friend Courtney (who is a photog) linked you guys in Facebook. Little did I know it was you all! The bed looks awesome and I applaud your effort. After all that I think Dave and I would have had to separate into our own corners for awhile

Found you from a link from another site. I looked over tons of headboard tutorials but was afraid I wouldn’t like mine enough if I DIY’d it, so I ended up buying a linen-upholstered headboard and frame instead. If I had seen this tutorial first, I would have gone for it. I’m so impressed with your skills — not just on the headboard but the whole frame! Who needs to pay hundreds of dollars? You did an awesome job.

Kelly, I just found your blog, and I am thrilled. Not only, is it a wonderful tutorial, your humor is great. You sound like me…I use a lot of sarcasam..and people love it. I think it makes us, more down-to-earth, and people, can identify. I hate these tuts, that make you feel like a total idiot, if you don’t get it right the first time. Thanks Kelly, and I look forward to following all your tuts. By the way, I do woodworking, and I love different ideas. You, and your family, are precious !!

Hi, I'm Kelly. Glad you're here! This little blog is where I chronicle our efforts to fix up our beaten-down home on a tiny budget. We're not there yet, but here's a peek at the view along the way... (more)